


Surrounding Atmospheres

by starbboy



Series: waiting for it, that green light [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Green Lantern - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I realised this entirely inspired by my need for hug in this quarantine don't @ me, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Platonic Cuddling, i may have written them but they swear of their own accord, no beta we die like jason todd, stargazing with Feelings™, there are Innuendos and Swearing thanks guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24894784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbboy/pseuds/starbboy
Summary: “Space Christmas Present.”“You could say-”“Don’t.”“It’s out of this world.” Guy finished proudly. Jason glared at him although the image was ruined slightly by the fact that he was still leaning on Guy’s shoulder.
Relationships: Guy Gardner & Jason Todd
Series: waiting for it, that green light [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774906
Comments: 15
Kudos: 306





	Surrounding Atmospheres

**Author's Note:**

> Did I write a Christmas fic in June? Absolutely. If you can't tell I suck at buying presents. I am Guy in this situation. His blanket obsession is also based on mine. I love him a lot.

John is waiting for him in his Sector House the day Guy heads back to Earth. He’s sitting on the couch when Guy walks in, reading a book with a glass of juice from Guy’s fridge balanced on a construct of a floating coaster next to him. He looks up when Guy pads in, a small fond smile settling on his face.

“Hey Johnny.” Guy says tiredly.

“Hey man. Are you okay?” John replies, watching him critically as he settles down in an armchair and reaching for John’s glass.

“Yeah, jus’ tired, excited to go home.” Guy pouts as John swats him away and moves the coaster to his other side.

“You’ve been a lot more antsy about it recently.” John comments.

“Hm.” Guy agrees, not giving him any more explanation. He never talked with Jason about introducing them, doesn’t want to do it when Jason’s not ready to.

His short answer does make John raise his eyebrow slightly but he softens. “I’m glad you have something to look forward to down there.”

“Thanks Johnny.” Guy smiles back and leans over to squeeze his arm. “I gotta grab something and then I’m off, you want to walk with me to the teleporter?”

“I’d be honoured” John smiles. Guy grins back and runs into the bedroom to grab the package under his sector bed. It’s plain wrapped in black paper - it matched the furniture in his little sector apartment perfectly, Guy thinks bemusedly. All greens and blacks and whites, it would have been incredibly plain and boring to look at if it weren’t for Guy’s mess and pictures strewn around. There were none of Jason up yet, but Guy was planning on changing that.

John is waiting by the door when he walks back, glass in his sink and book in hand. If he’s curious about the package he doesn't mention anything, just opens the door and lets Guy out.

The walk to the teleporter doesn’t take long, John talks a bit about some things he plans on working on with the Corps and the Justice League meeting he attended last week, Guy interrupting at all the inappropriate moments.

They reach the teleporter, it’s quieter than it would usually be around this time but Guy doesn’t mind. He floats up, the ring doing its usual song and dance of sparking and glowing and he grins and flips upside down to say bye to John.

“Don’ miss me too much Johnny?”

“Of course not. Try not to get into any trouble.”

“Don’t know what ya talkin’ about, I’m always an angel.” John just levels him with an unimpressed look, fond exasperation in his eyes betraying him. 

“Call me if ya need anythin’. Love ya!” Guy says, winking badly and flying off.

* * *

It’s daytime when he arrives, landing in the alley next to his apartment block. He flashes his uniform off to reveal a T-Shirt and Jeans. He wishes he had the common sense to put a jumper on, even though the sun is shining, it’s the middle of December and there’s a small breeze so it’s pretty cold. He hopes Jason has the heating on, or else he might be forced to cocoon himself in blankets for a couple hours.

He trudges up the stairs shivering, because some asshole decided to open all the staircase windows and the lift wasn’t working. His arms are wrapped around himself in some odd-looking self-hug, the package squished to his chest and digging into his flesh slightly.

The good news is that when he reaches his door, he hears soft music from the inside which means Jason is home, which means he won’t have to construct a key to fit his keyhole. The bad news is that he won’t be able to hide the package from Jason. Unlike John, Jason is openly curious and Guy isn’t the best at lying or improvisation, so he’ll probably end up telling him straight away.

He rings the doorbell and hears faint clattering and footsteps, shifting slightly as the door opens to reveal a slightly frazzled looking Jason.

“Heya Jace.” Guy says, smiling.

“Hi,” Jason says slightly surprised.

He looks pretty odd, wearing oversized gym shorts and a hoodie underneath a very messy looking apron. Flour has somehow managed to everywhere, his face, his arms, his clothes and his hair, matched with his wide eyes, he looks like he came out of an extremely low budget horror movie. His hair is slightly overgrown, the mop of curly hair at the top pulled into a small ponytail.

Guy grins and reaches forward to hug him ignoring his protest of “Guy no I’m dirty”. He doesn’t care, Jason is warm and Guy has missed him so he’s gonna hug him, he has indomitable will and cannot be stopped.

Luckily, Jason hugs back pretty much immediately, burying his face in Guy’s neck.

He pulls back quicker than usual, still holding onto one of Guy’s shoulders.

“Jesus Christ you’re freezing.” Jason mutters, moving to let Guy inside and immediately dumping the nearest blanket on him.

“Thanks.” Guy says, wrapping the neon pink eyesore of a blanket around himself and walking to the kitchen. “Whatcha makin?”

“Chocolate cake, but my phone went off when I was measuring flour and it got everywhere.” Jason replies, dusting himself off and moving back to the kitchen. Guy sits on one of the bar stools and watches.

“How was space?” Jason asks after a while, sliding the cake into the oven and settling down next to Guy. Guy holds out an arm and Jason leans into him.

“Good, nothing crazy happened, prevented a war, watched John do some diplomat stuff.”

“Mm.” Jason said, “And how was Hal?” His voice taking on a teasing edge.

“Shut up.” Guy shoves him lightly “Not even home one hour and you’re already bein’ mean to me.”

Jason just snorts lightly and moves so he can shift his arms around Guy’s waist.

“Wha’s the package?”

“Your Christmas Present.”

“Christmas Present?”

“Yeah Jace. But it’s from Space so it’s extra cool.”

“Space Christmas Present.”

“You could say-”

“Don’t.”

“It’s out of this world.” Guy finishes proudly. Jason glares at him although the image was ruined slightly by the fact that he was still leaning on Guy’s shoulder.

“I was gonna go shopping for presents tomorrow.” He grumbles.

“Who for?” Guy asks.

“You, Roy, Kori and maybe Talia.”

“Sounds good.” Guy replies, feeling a sudden loss of heat as Jason moves away to check the cake. “Althoooough. You should get one for Kyle too, and send it to him anonymously like some sort of secret admirer.” Guy says, leaning over the counter and grinning.

“Fuck no. That’s creepy.” Jason says, pulling the cake out of the oven. “And haven’t seen him in ages so I wouldn’t know what to get him anyways.” He adds after a pause.

“Oh my god,” Guy laughs, “You actually thought about getting him something! Christ you’re adorable.” He says, reaching over to pinch Jason’s cheeks.

“And you’re awful, here try this.” Jason scowls, shoving leftover cake batter into Guy’s mouth and effectively shutting him up. He did have to admit it tasted nice though, he was pretty sure Jason had added some orange which gave it a sharpness that Guy liked. He’d have to remind himself to ask Jason for the recipe. 

Swallowing, he smiles. “How have ya been Jace.”

“Good, worked a couple cases ‘round town, got some intel for Roy, ran into Talia.” He says, “Though it was a very coordinated run in, at least on her part.”

“Nice, how are they?”

“Good, ‘pparently T bumped into Bruce in the field but she didn’t say much about it. She did mention wanting to meet you though, but she’s in Japan right now, so it’ll have to wait.” Jason paused, “If you want to.”

“I’d love to, Jace. She seems cool, and I have so much to tell her.” He says, his voice taking on a mischievous edge.

“I take it back; I'm never introducing you two.” Jason says, mock seriously, a smile gracing features which have paled slightly in the winter conditions. Guy snorts softly.

After a pause Jason looks up. “Hey, you up for Hot Chocolate? Cause I have leftover melted chocolate from the cake and I know a good recipe.”

“That sounds great but it ain’t really a daytime snack.” Guy muses, “Keep it though, we can use it later.”

They fall into a comfortable silence after that, migrating to the couch after Jason had cleaned up. Jason sits down cross legged, picking up his slightly battered copy of _Jane Eyre._ Guy throws himself down on the sofa with a little less care, tossing his legs into Jason’s lap and grabbing the laptop to check up on some news and emails.

The time crawls by slowly, Guy looks up from his laptop about three hours later to see Jason awkwardly napping upright and the sky dark outside. He lifts his legs up gingerly, careful not to wake Jason up, before wrapping one of the softer blankets around the boy.

He supposes he’ll be cooking tonight. 

Guy can cook, he’s lived on his own since he was 22, it would be concerning if he didn’t, but he’s nowhere up to Jason’s standard. His speciality is biscuits, which isn’t really a rounded meal. Most of his knowledge comes from watching his mom or helping his _Oma_ out when she came around. All basic stuff, but pretty good to get by on. He wasn’t like Hal, who had several stories of him burning ramen or tater tots. 

He rifled through the fridge and decided to make chicken _vol au vent_ and chips, which he probably knew how to make with his eyes closed at this point. They had pretty much all the ingredients for it, and he was certain Jace would like it, so it would be easy.

He grabbed a thick jumper and his phone, then wrote a note on the table in case Jason woke up and worried, before running out to get the puff pastry and mushrooms.

Jason was awake when he returned, lying on the couch blearily. He threw a hand up lazily in greeting before letting it flop onto his face. Guy walked over to ruffle his hair before setting his stuff down in the kitchen.

“I c’n cook if ya don’t wanna.” Jason yawned, shifting to move.

“Jace, you’re exhausted, let me do this, yeah?” Guy said amused. Damn workaholic.

“Mm.” Came Jason’s response before he turned over to shove his face into a pillow. When Guy checked a few minutes later he was out cold. He wondered what Jason had been doing to get so exhausted. 

While the food was in the oven Guy pulled out his box of Christmas decorations, it was ripped and slowly falling apart but he had had it since he moved into the apartment and couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it. It was small and consisted of a few ornaments and small fake Christmas Trees as well as a worn-out shoe from the few times he celebrated _Sinterklaasdag_ and a very tangled mess of fairy lights. They weren’t even specifically Christmas Lights; he didn’t know why he didn’t keep them up year round. One part of him supplied that it was because stringing fairy lights was for teenagers and people in their twenties but another part argued that he was the man who owned eggplant socks and Disney band aids so that shouldn’t stop him.

He’d ask Jason when he woke up.

For now, he set about untangling the lights and using his ring to grab places and cutlery for the food.

He finished up the food and dumped the greatly reduced bundle of lights onto the coffee table, before poking Jason in the leg to wake him up.

“Hmgh.”

“Wakey wakey Jace, it’s dinner time.”

“Hm.” He replied intelligently, sitting up and stretching before padding over to the counter to eat.

Dinner was, as always, nice. The food turned out great and Jason liked it too, which made Guy happy. They chatted, Jason swaying slightly to the background music Guy had put on as he spoke. He seemed slightly distracted though, his answers were shorter and he was more open to physical affection (not that Guy was complaining about that, he loved a good hug, but he had quickly noticed that Jason used affection as a subconscious coping mechanism when stressed or upset). He hadn’t mentioned anything that would cause such a mood and Guy knew that sometimes these things just came without reason but that didn’t stop his concern.

They sat around after dinner, Jason moving to clear the plates. They had created a sort of unspoken routine between them - he who cooks should not clear up unless the other has a signed doctor's note. They lounged around for a while, listening to the music and making sparse small talk, eventually cutting up the cake to eat as dessert.

“I see Fuckface is still alive.” Guy mentions, gesturing towards the single alive succulent on the windowsill.

“Resilient little bastard. Won’t die.” Jason grumbles, in the exact tone Guy would expect from a man bested by a plant.

“Whaddya think about getting them some friends?” Guy says, shoving cake into his mouth.

Jason looks at him in mock despair. “No.”

Guy slowly feels some of his pent-up tension ease. While there might not have been anything crazy going on with the corps, it didn’t mean the job was stress free. Like, at all. There was constant drama going on at the corps, like one of those soap operas he sometimes mindlessly watched. He barely got time to chill, and if he did, he spent most of that sleeping. It was good to be given time to clear his thoughts and slow his brain down, without risking missing something important.

Between that and having to deal with Batman’s general emoness? He should get a fucking raise.

When he zones back into the real world Jason is slowly nodding off again. Jesus, the fuck had happened to make him so tired. He was reminding Guy of a cat, his friend's old cat specifically, who was asleep ninety five percent of the time Guy saw the thing.

“Alright, time for bed.” Jason makes an ironically sleepy protest noise, making a half-hearted attempt to look awake.

“Won’t work on me Jace, we are going to bed, I’m exhausted too but I will use the ring to carry you there if I have to.” Guy threatens. Luckily for him, sleepy Jason is pretty passive if he feels safe so he just grabs his stuff and stumbled to the bathroom to change with very little grumbling. Guy has no idea why Jason still changes in there, he has no problem with Guy being half dressed around the apartment, and Guy hasn’t noticed him having and body issues that stand out, however he knows that one side effect of their lifestyle is getting some _rather unsavoury_ souvenirs on your body and if Jason doesn’t want to show them he won’t push.

He is curious though.

Jason comes out a little while later, and he crawls into the bed, tucking himself into a little ball under the duvet. A product of his days on the street (“Old habits die hard” Jason told him one night), the smaller you are less likely to get found. Being surrounded by a wall (or person) with an escape route also makes him feel better, which translates into him being slightly cuddly, Guy often wakes up to find Jason curled up next to his chest.

When Guy finishes in the bathroom Jason is sound asleep, breathing softly with his face completely smooshed against the pillow. He looks at peace, his stress lines are smoothed out and his face sits in a neutral expression, the corners of his lips turned up ever so slightly. Every sign of struggle, pain or anger is gone, right now he just looks like a regular twenty-something year old, wearing clothes that are too big for him, his only problems being jobs, education, romance and the world falling to shit as he watches.

Guy is careful as he crawls onto the bed - this seems like one of the nights where Jason will sleep lightly, restlessly and he doesn’t want to interrupt if he can help it.

He throws his arm gingerly around Jason, who unconsciously shifts closer and sighs, before closing his eyes and drifting off as well.

* * *

Guy wakes at fuck o’clock in the morning slightly colder than usual. The only light in the room is from his ring and the alarm clock that’s blaring _3.56_ at him like he doesn’t already know he should be asleep. He moved over to check on Jason and - oh, there's the problem. Jason isn’t there. That’s odd, Jason can be a restless sleeper sometimes but he doesn’t ever really get out of bed until morning. He usually just lies awake or sits up if he wants to clear his head.

Straining his ears, Guy hears no noises from beyond the door, although Jason has the ability to sneak around without a sound so it doesn’t really tell him much. He grumbles and rolls off the bed unceremoniously, picking up one of the stray blankets to wrap around his forearms. 

When he walks into the living area it’s void of any other human presence and the window is open. He’d be lying if he said that didn’t make him panic. He scans the room for any evidence of where Jason had gone. His shoes were still by the door and his laptop was on the coffee table so he hadn’t gone too far, or just left entirely, which soothes Guy’s nerves.

Pale moonlight shines through the window, it’s a wonderfully clear night - the kind Guy would appreciate if he didn’t see stars up close on the regular. The light softly illuminates a strip of the living area, including the unused table, where something catches his eye. 

There is a note lying there, written on one the garish neon sticky notes that Guy refuses to switch for a nicer colour. It’s Jason’s handwriting, precise and slanted, just bordering on the edge of being chicken scratch.

_On the roof, sorry._

Guy snorts to himself, even in note form Jason couldn’t stop apologising.

He grabs an extra blanket - night time in winter is fucking cold - and jumps out the window, flying up to the roof. He has one of the higher apartments so it doesn’t take long. True to his word, Jason is sitting there, leaning against a wall in a makeshift blanket den. His hair is rustling in the wind and he’s wearing an expression that gives Guy flashbacks to the night they first met on a roof a few blocks over.

“Hey.” Guy says, landing gently next to him. Jason starts as if he hadn’t noticed the bright light show Guy had arrived in. That concerns him more.

“Hi.” He replies, voice a whisper, smiling at Guy genuinely but tiredly.

Guy settles himself down next to Jason quietly, opening his arms to let Jason lean on his side. He’s learnt it’s best to give Jason time, let him say what he wants to at his own pace, he shuts down if you force him. 

It’s quiet for a while, they sit and listen to the exhausted noises of the city, cars roaring on alone and faint music from clubs closer to the centre. 

Jason speaks eventually, in a surprising light tone. “Ya know. ‘Ntil I was twelve, I though’ stars were made up. Crime Alley smog always covered them up. I first saw them when-” he pauses there, musing tone twisting into something sadder, “when I moved into the Manor. Spen’ a whole night awake just looking at them.”

Guy tenses slightly; Jason never really spoke about his time with Batman before death. Guy understood, they were memories that linked him to an area of his life he didn’t want to think about. However happy the time before was, it had been twisted by the things that happened later.

Guy hums in response. “Whenever I wanted to get away from my dad, I woul’ climb up to the roof or just go outside and look at the sky. Used ta wonder what i’ would be like up there. And, look at me now - huh?”

Jason smiles and tilts his head up to look at the stars so Guy counts it as a win. He puts his hand in Jason’s hair and ruffles the curls absentmindedly. They stay silent for a bit longer, a few planes passing overhead and some drunk people making a ruckus below before Jason speaks again.

“Had ta go to Gotham f’r one of my cases.” He sighs, lifting his head from Guy’s shoulder. “Was quick ‘n easy, in and out kinda thing and in my old territory so I thought I’d be fine but-” he cuts off, voice breaking subtly, “I saw B an’ I panicked and I dunno why cause I don’t think he saw me but it just made me freeze and I almost messed up my case and _fuck!”_

He curls into himself slightly, shaking with his lips wobbling. Guy pulls him closer, rubbing circles in his arm in a soothing gesture.

“‘S stupid.”

“Nah, Jace it isn’t. You suffered a traumatic experience, you’re gonna experience trauma. It natural for you panic if somethin’ that reminds you of the incident happens.” Guy tells him.

Jason hums in response, Guy figures it’s going to take him a bit of time to internalize that message.

“Come on, let’s go inside, yeah? We can make hot chocolate and eat cake. It’s cold out here and the last thing we need is to get hypothermia.”

Jason nods and they stand up, gathering the blankets. Guy creates a slide construct to get them back into the living room. Sue him, slides are fun, they always make him feel a little happier. They dump the blankets down first to create a soft landing, then Jason goes down, then Guy. Giggling slightly by the end.

“Come on, I wanna taste this recipe of yours.” Guy says nudging Jason.

They work together, Guy is in charge of melting the chocolate, adding a bit extra to make sure it properly fills both of their mugs. Jason takes over at the pan after that, periodically adding small amounts of milk and instructing Guy to grab the spices and toppings he wants, grabbing chilli powder for Jason. 

It feels incredibly domestic and comfortable, like it was completely normal for them to be making hot chocolate at 4.30 in the morning, using only the hastily strung up fairy lights to brighten the room. It’s fun. At some point Guy gets whipped cream on his nose and there's cinnamon powder dusting Jason’s face but he can’t really find it in himself to be bothered.

They’ve separated the hot chocolate into two pans and mixed everything in, Guy’s half tempted to just drink it straight from the pan to see how Jason reacts, he’s pretty sure it’d give the kid a heart attack. They pour it into their respective mugs, the biggest ones Guy could find in the shop when he went out to buy them. Jason’s is mostly black with a fitting rainbow strip at the bottom and Guy’s is in the shape of George Washington’s head, one of those mugs that you’re supposed to collect rather than drink out of. 

The hot hhocolate tastes wonderful, it’s a great comfort drink, the kind of thing that makes you feel completely warm inside and makes you focus on drinking it rather than whatever you’re stressed about. 

Jason looks better too, like he has less on his mind. He sips slower than Guy, who has no regard for whether or not his taste buds burn, but he seems calmer as they move to sit on the couch, neither of them really feel like going back to sleep.

“I ever tell you about the time I called Hal a pet name by accident?” Guy asks, leaning back.

Jason snorts, “No.”

“This was like super early on, I’d only jus’ realized I liked the man ‘n I was super tired right? Pretty much dead on m’ feet. And I was hangin’ out with Hal and John ‘n Hal gone to get us food.” Guy explained, Jason watching interestedly. “He came back and dumped like a whole plate of fries in front of me and I was like hell yes food. So, my stupid tired brain thought the best thing to say was _‘Danku Schat’_ which means like “thanks babe”. I was like oh shit time to leave an’ forget that happened.”

Then he sighs, Jason leaning forward and propping his arms on his legs as he listens.

“It was fine though, cause do you know what Hal thought I had called him?”

“What?”

“He thought I had called him ‘Shit’” Guy said with a defeated tone. Jason burst out laughing.

"Well 'M glad you find it funny! Cause he was so offended! You should have seen his face, if I wasn’t embarrassed to hell ‘n back I woulda laughed.”

“What’d John do?”

“Looked at us like we were fuckin idiots and told me to go to sleep.” 

Jason nodded sagely. “A wise man. I respect John.”

They both ended up falling asleep on the couch at relatively the same time. The positions were awkward and when Guy woke up (at noon the next day, because the universe likes to remind him he can’t function as a normal human) he felt like he wouldn’t ever be able to move his neck again without it just straight up breaking. 

“Ughhh, Jace. I know ya said ya wanted to go shoppin’ today but why don’t we just not move?” He groaned.

“Sounds good.” Jason replies from where he’s curled up on the other two thirds of the sofa. “Movie?”

“Mm. Le’s watch Mulan.” Guy agrees, reaching forward to grab the remote.

They stay like that all day, shifting positions randomly as they binge their way through Mulan, Sword and the Stone, Pride and Prejudice and several others. Notable positions they find themselves sitting in include Jason propped upside down and almost choking on the popcorn Guy had used his ring to grab and Jason lying in Guy’s lap while he leans on top of Jason’s body. It’s the kind of situation that would be funny to watch in time lapse.

They stayed there until 9PM, exhausted and achy from their day of doing nothing, Jason had decided to make them stretch about four hours in and while Guy was grumpy about it then he very much appreciated it now. They head to bed after that, determined to get back on a regular schedule and recover from what was probably the laziest day of both their lives. Guy can’t say he regrets it but he has done better things with his time.

* * *

He wakes up the next day still feeling a bit stiff but generally more awake. Jason, the awful early riser he is, is already awake and pottering around the apartment. He smiles slightly when he sees Guy, moving to hip check him, looking generally a lot better than he did a few nights ago, which soothes some of Guy’s nerves.

“You gonna go shoppin’ today?” Guy asks, slinging his arm around Jason’s shoulder as he chugs his coffee.

Jason looks at him slightly disapprovingly - an expression that Guy assumes he’s picked up from Talia - and wrinkles his nose. “Yeah, leaving in an hour.”

“D’you mind if I tag along? Gotta get stuff for the boys ‘n Jess.” 

Jason ponders that for a bit. “Why not, I already ordered your present so.” He shrugs.

“When did ya do that?”

“Yesterday.” Jason moves away to wash up his glass, healthy fucker had a smoothie for breakfast.

“You sneaky bastard.” Guy accuses and Jason just grins ruefully.

“I’m not lettin’ you come with if you’re still in your pyjamas. You gotta get ready.” Jason says, grabbing Guys mug and sticking it in the sink before moving to recline on the sofa.

Guy sighs longsufferingly and moves to go get dressed.

They walk out the building an hour and fifteen minutes later, Guy has a few coffee stains on his shirt and Jason looks generally put together. Jason leads them to the area’s main shopping street about a ten minute drive away, but they decide to walk instead, making it a half an hour’s journey. Walking turns out to be a mistake because the pavement is especially frosty and slippery today and neither of them are wearing particularly grippy shoes, they spend most of the walk there sliding precariously until Guy has the idea to construct better soles for their shoes once they’re in a quiet area. Overall, they manage to get away with Jason falling once and that’s it, a number Guy is pretty proud of.

Once they get to the main street Jason pulls out a small piece of paper which he is mostly able to shield from Guy’s view, but the lantern does manage to catch the words _fuck_ and _scarf???_ written on it. 

It’s a Thursday at 12PM so there isn’t much of a crowd but all the shops are open, lunch rush doesn’t start for a bit and Jason seems like he’s got enough of an idea and plan to avoid getting caught up in it. Unfortunately for him, he brought Guy along, who is an infamously slow and indecisive shopper when he wants to be so he’s going to be stuck here for a while.

They go to the bookshop first, where Jason moves determinedly to a specific section, leaving Guy to browse around. He hasn’t really got any idea for what he’s going to get the other Lanterns, he’s more of a spur of the moment buyer, so he wanders around trying to get inspiration. He spots a book on the Bauhaus movement which John might like, but he can’t remember John ever expressing a specific interest in that movement in particular, most of the architecture stuff flies over his head when John talks about it. He only knows about this style from what his _Oma_ told him. He picks it up anyways and decides that if John doesn’t like it that’s on him, not Guy. One present down, four to go.

He thinks a little ahead about what he should get each of them while walking round the bookshop and trying to keep up with Jason, who keeps on disappearing. He can get Kyle something artsy or a bunch of California merch. He’ll probably get Jess and Simon some matching couples thing, just to be obnoxious, as well as getting Jess a Lebanese cookbook as a not so subtle hint to use it to make food for Simon.

Hal though, he’s stumped on. The Cali merch idea won’t work on him because the asshole would actually use the stuff Guy gave him and stick the magnets up on his fridge. He can’t get something assholish or mean, because he wants the man to like him but he can’t get something super sappy either because he has a reputation.

Jason pops up next to him while he’s thinking, making Guy startle.

“You need any more time? I just paid for my stuff.” Jason holds up a plastic bag with several books in it.

“Gotta to pay for this ‘n then we can leave.” Guy says gesturing at John’s present. “Just out of curiosity though, how many of those books are actually presents?”

Jason flushes slightly, looking like a kid caught sneaking out to play.

“Shut up.” 

Guy grins and moves to go pay, Jason going to wait outside.

From the bookshop, they walk a little way away, to the other end of the street. The pavement is warmer here so most of the frost is gone and Guy doesn’t have to construct soles for them as they walk. Jason stops abruptly halfway down their walk, turning to enter the coffee shop. Guy’s not going to complain, it’s cold as shit out here, he’d gladly take something warm to drink.

They stay inside the cafe, rather than getting takeout. It’s a small, quaint little thing with oddly harsh lighting and a lot of wood decorating the walls. There’s a rainbow sticker on the window and one of the tables has a couple random stickers covering the base. They choose a table by the front window, to be able to look out over the street and make fun of passers-by.

“What are you gettin’ your folks?” Guy asks, gesturing to the bag.

“Kori’s getting some book I think she’ll like and a scarf, Roy’s getting a few balls of wool, cause he likes to see if he can incorporate his tech into clothes, and a framed picture of him drooling in his sleep and I’m getting T a bunch of different brands of tea so she can judge them.” Jason shrugs.

“And me?”

“Well, ‘M not gonna tell you that, am I?” Jason says. “What are you getting the Lanterns?”

“I’ve got John’s book, I’ll get Kyle somethin’ artsy, and Simon and Jess get some couples thing.”

“They’re dating?”

“No.” Guy grins.

“Mm. And what about Hal?” Jason asks, twirling his spoon.

“I’ve got clue! Zero inspiration. Zilch.”

Jason hums thoughtfully, sipping his hot chocolate-slash-sugar abomination.

"Get him a coupon for a free backrub." He says solemnly. Guy stares at him like he’s lost his mind.

"Is the backrub a eu-"

"Yes, the backrub is a euphemism for sex." Jason confirms, the lady a few tables down shoots him a scandalized look. Guy is suddenly struck with the realization that he’s been rubbing off on Jason, who is now using his own brand of humour against him.

"Yeah I don't think that's a great idea."

Jason is silent. "That's all I got."

Guy flops his face on the table, squishing his cheek against the plastic. Jason just looks down at him critically before reaching over to finish the rest of Guy’s coffee. A couple more people walk into the cafe and look over concernedly but Jason waves them off non-committaly before pulling Guy up.

They hang around the area and finish up shopping a few hours later, when Jason’s convinced himself not to buy another box of tea. He already has nine, Guy thinks his limit should have been a few boxes earlier than it is. 

He finds this sweet matching mug set in a hipstery looking kitchen store which he buys along a funny looking wobbly bowl. He gets Kyle some pastels, the ones that look nice to his and Jason’s amateur eyes and are within his budget. They spend a good several minutes in a candle shop before they realize with the sheer number of blankets in the apartment it would be a fire hazard. They then buy a new blanket, to prove their point.

He still hasn’t gotten anything for Hal and he sulks about it for a bit while they’re in the blanket shop until Jason slaps his shoulder and tells him they can come back another day before dragging him next door to go look at more tea.

On the way back home, Guy gets bored of walking so he constructs them a magic carpet for the rest of the journey, he’s worried about people seeing but the look of exhilaration on Jason’s face is worth it. His area is pretty quiet during daytime anyway - there are a lot of students and young workers who are either busy or too exhausted to care.

Jason immediately sets to work wrapping his gifts up once they arrive home. Using a brightly coloured wrapping paper with penguins on it that made Guy smile when he saw it. He finishes up and puts them in postage boxes, heading out to drop them off at the post office because he feels like he hasn't slipped on the ice enough today. He gets back half an hour later and in that time Guy hasn’t bothered to move from where he’s flopped on the couch. Jason stands there watching for a second before sitting down next to him and ordering takeout for dinner.

* * *

The next few days are a lot of fun. Guy convinces Jason to go ice skating with him, which may be his best idea to date because Jason happens to be terrible at it on the funniest way possible. He spends most of the time clinging to the edges of the rink or Guy, who at one point threatens to construct him one of those penguin skating aids. Jason attempts to punch him in retaliation and ends up falling over.

Guy finds it endlessly amusing that an accomplished crime lord and skilled assassin is bested by a sheet of ice.

_“Howd’ya ever beat that Mr Frozen guy if you can’t ice skate.” Guy asks after pulling Jason up for the fourth time.”_

_“Dr Freeze. ‘N I usually just used a grapple gun to get around.” Jason grumbles, wiping ice off his pants with one hand and holding Guy’s shoulder in a death grip with the other._

They also end up drinking their weight in hot chocolate over the week. About halfway through Guy figured out you could add alcohol to the mix and it would taste even better, making that his third best idea ever, after bringing Jason to an ice rink and kissing John one time when they were both tipsy.

The end of the week draws near quickly, and Guy still hasn’t figured out what to get for Hal. He spends a good while complaining about it to Jason, while lying on the sofa, hand covering his eyes and legs thrown in the rather unamused younger man’s lap.

Around ten minutes into Guy’s moping Jason just shuts his book and looked over at him, slightly annoyed.

“Just get him something that’s important to you.”

Guy looks at him dubiously, removing his hand from his face. “Like what?”

“Dead plants?” Jason suggests. “Blankets? Pride flags. A book of sex jokes.”

Guy gasps. “Holy shit yeah! I’ll get him a blanket.”

“You do realize that was a joke, right? Please don’t push your blanket hoarder lifestyle on the man you are romantically interested in.”

“Shh Jace, it’s a good idea, blankets are great. Don’t shoot down the one idea I’ve got.”

Jason sighs. “Fine, but if you come back from the shop with an extra blanket for us, I’m going to burn it.

“Harsh, but understandable.” Guy hums. He leans back and grabs his phone both of them resuming what they were doing.

Guy then decides he will bend Jason’s request and get them _two_ extra blankets, just because. It’s an incredibly petty and Jason thing to do but clearly living together (when Guy isn’t in space) means they pick up each other’s mannerisms. Guy’s noticed it with the other Lanterns too, Jess, Simon and Kyle have managed to pick up John’s patented look of weary disappointment and last week he saw Simon make a gesture that Guy uses a lot before staring off into space in horror at what he’d become. 

Luckily, when Guy arrived home with two bags full of Blankets and a few other gifts he bought, Jason saw the humour in the situation and didn’t burn the blankets.

He did refuse to make Guy hot chocolate and hid all the milk, which was fair. Cruel. But fair.

Guy’s last day on Earth came quickly enough. It was spent wrapping presents and lounging around for the most part. They had yet to give each other their presents, Guy’s package had been sitting on the countertop all week, surprisingly forgotten about. It had a few grease stains on it but that couldn’t be helped.

Guy wasn’t sure where Jason was hiding his present though, just like with the milk, it had seemed like it had disappeared into the void. Guy had tried to sneakily search, even scanning the apartment with his ring a few times while Jason was out, that didn’t really help though, since he didn’t know what he was looking for.

“Hey Jace,” Guy sang, tapping his finger on the table.

“Hm?” 

“Present Time!”

Jason came out of the bedroom, curls flopping over his face and pulling a jacket on. “Ok, give me a minute, I need to go get it.” And with that he left the apartment.

What?

He came back a few minutes later holding what Guy assumed was the present wrapped in copious amounts of bubble wrap and plastic bags.

“It was on the roof.” Jason helpfully explains, taking his shoes off.

“The roof? What the fuck Jace that’s next level!”

Jason shrugs, “You can never be too sure.” He takes the parcel out of the plastic bags and shakes of the bubble wrap, handing it to Guy. “Happy Holidays.”

Feeling only slightly bewildered Guy grabs his present and gives it to Jason.

“You first.”

Jason opens his present cautiously, every bit the paranoid vigilante, Guy shifted from foot to foot gauging Jason’s reaction as the wrapping paper fell away. In his hands was a small stack of books, beautiful ornate decoration covering the spine and borders, they were made from a material that was odd to touch, a little softer than paper. There were small stones embedded in the spine, cheap as dirt on the planet they came from, since they had it in surplus but precious looking to any other species. There were words in an alien language on the front, written in a material that jutted out from the cover, looking a vibrant red in the dim dusk light. Jason traced the cover gently, opening the cover, fumbling slightly when he realised it flipped upwards. A small piece of paper flitted out, covered in Guy’s handwriting explaining a few basics of the language. The inside of the book was beautiful as well, covered in intricate swirling illustrations that seemed to move off one page into the next.

Jason looked up at him, smiling widely and clutching the books tightly but carefully.

Guy cleared his throat. “‘S mostly pictures but you can use the ring if ya need anythin’ transla-”

He was cut off as Jason put the books down gently and moved to hug him, wrapping his arms around Guy’s middle. 

Pulling away Guy grinned. “I’m guessin’ this means you like ‘em.”

“Yeah,” Jason says quietly, emotion brimming in his face, “Uh, Thanks.”

“No problemo,” Guy smiles back. “Anyways, my turn now!” He announces clapping his hands together and moving to pick up his present.

“Right, yeah.” Jason says, leaning against the back of the sofa and watching. Guy opens his with more eagerness than Jason did, ripping away at the paper unceremoniously. It’s a single book with a fabric cover, pale blue in colour and upside down. Guy flips it over and on the front there’s a neatly decorated label that says _Recipes._ He flips it open and sees a printed contents page, it’s cute, gives it a kind of scrapbook style feel. Flicking down the list he looks at names and _holy shit._ He flips through the book to check and then smiles. Jason had typed out and stuck down most of the recipes he’s cooked or baked for the two of them since he started staying with Guy. A couple of them handwritten annotations and there were a few doodles. He’d even managed to add Guy’s alcoholic hot chocolate.

“When did you make this?” Guy asked, grinning.

“In bits and pieces when you were out or asleep over the last few days. It’s for if you want to cook on Oa.” Jason explains a barely detectable twinge of nervousness in his voice.

“Holy shit, Jace, that’s some dedication.” Guy says, reaching out to him. “C’mere.”

Jason relents letting himself be pulled into a one-armed hug. He does protest a bit when Guy ruffles his hair.

“You’re adorable.” Jason lets out a small squawk and moves to break free. Too late, he fell for Guy’s trap, now he’s stuck.

“M’not.”

“Yes, you are. Very adorable.” Guy states, releasing Jason from his death grasp.

Jason pointedly ignores him. “You can use that book to seduce Jordan with food.”

“I take it back, you’re a little shit and I’m a horrible influence.”

Guy’s phone alarm goes off then, signalling that Guy needs to head back to Oa. It’s both perfect and awful timing.

He moves to hug Jason once more, who squeezes him tightly then looks him in the eye and says. “Don’t be stupid.” Guy has a feeling Jason and John would get along.

Instead he replies with, “Who, me?” before constructing a sack to carry his presents before climbing out the window cackling, he pats Fuckface McTodd-Gardner on the way.. His brain supplies that he’s acting a lot like the Grinch.

He waves as he flies off, until the window is but a speck in the distance, feeling overwhelmingly light as he teleports back to Oa.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Check out my tumblr @starboysdcdumpster where i reblog stuff occasionally


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